Scientists have used the root system of mushrooms to create a composting toilet that’s odor absorbing, while creating over 2,000 liters of fertilizer and soil a year. Separating solids from liquids and processing each in different ways using fungal mycella, the toilet can currently be found in the University of British Columbia’s botanical gardens. Called the MycoToilet, it was developed by Professor of Microbiology Steven Hallam and Associate Professor Joseph Dahmen. Together, they hope to rethink a product and system that many people take for granted. The pair say most people can’t answer the question: “What happens to human waste after the toilet is flushed.” The MycoToilet eliminates 90% of the odor-causing compounds, slowly but surely converting human waste into soil. Not all wastewater treatment plants can produce fertilizer from the waste they collect. In many instances, it’s merely sanitized within the regulatory limits and dumped into rivers or oceans. Mushrooms have been theorized as a way to break down virtually anything in our society, from nuclear waste to our own bodies, as the organisms work symbiotically with the whole soil micro-environment to disassemble even the most complex of molecules.
